We Meet at Last, Austraeoh
Stars.
Galaxies.
Cosmic bands, swirling over, under... fading into the nebulous violet distance.
Rainbow Dash "stood" on a patch of blackness within an infinite field of identical blackness.
She blinked. She raised a hoof up to her pendant. It pulsed at the touch, illuminating an enormous plane below her. A bleak horizon came to a jagged stop at the threshhold of undulating starlight, then dimmed—along with her Element of Loyalty.
"Uhhhh..."
Rainbow's voice echoed amidst the heavens. She looked left, spotting celestial spirals and shooting stars.
"Applejack? Twilight? Rarity?"
Silence.
She looked right, spotting planets and moons and ringed spheres looming in dust and shadow.
"Ariel? Luna? Bard?"
More silence.
Rainbow Dash sighed. Hard.
"Okay... okay..."
She leaned left and right. Her petite weight caused the blackness beneath her to ripple, causing continental shelves and ocean waves to fluctuate against the plane's edge far below.
"...getting really sick and tired of this trippy planetarium nonsense." She turned around, huffing. "Where the heck is that stupid door—?"
The dark silhouette of an equine faced her.
"Gaaah!" Rainbow Dash hopped back, teetering. She found herself standing precariously on the edge of the plane.
The shape in front of her craned its angular neck. A pair of wings stretched out, its narrow feathers blotting out threads of starlight.
Rainbow Dash calmed... calmed... and stood evenly. She squinted, her lips pursed as she examined each feather and strand of the dark shape standing in front of her. "... ... ..." Gulping, she leaned forward. "Uhm... h-hello...?"
"Is it Utaan?"
Rainbow's blood froze cold.
The voice was feminine.
But much more than that...
...she had heard it before.
She was certain of it.
Rainbow's muzzle hung open. "... ... ...yeah???"
The figure's wings coiled slightly. The head tilted until it stared evenly at the mare. "She." The voice echoed everywhere, bouncing off every star, constellation, and comet. "She is gone. We do not feel the blemish anymore."
Rainbow glanced down at the single continent looming in the darkness beneath them. She glanced at the edge of the plane, then tilted her gaze back up.
"That's... uh... that's right..." Rainbow took a shuddering breath. "Verlax. She... she is gone." Her jaw muscles clenched. "She polluted the gateways to the machine world. But I..." A breath. "She's no longer a threat."
Silence.
The figure peered at Rainbow Dash.
Rainbow Dash peered back.
More silence.
The universe glittered... stretched... expanded.
Rainbow Dash fidgeted. "So—"
"Many flames have been lit." The voice blurted from the shape. "But it is still too dim. We cannot see. Can only hear. Smell." The flick of a tail—long, narrow, and flared at the end. "A familiar smoke. But from what fire?"
Rainbow Dash's muzzle hung agape. At last, she said, "I am the Austraeoh."
The figure's wingtips stretched again. The head tilted to the side, and Rainbow judged it was longer, narrower than most ponies she'd seen.
"And... uhm..." Rainbow pointed behind her. "I'm just at the edge of the world with—"
"Is it Utaan?"
Silence.
Rainbow clenched her teet. "No." A deep breath. "At least... not yet. But..." She slowly nodded. "It's about to be... yeah..."
"It is working then." The figure breathed—a very trembling thing. "Eljunbyro brought it to Yaerfaerda. Now it must be Utaan to surpass Ofolrodi."
"Whoah..." Rainbow Dash waved a hoof. "Slow down just a sec—"
"The flame dims. It must find the brightest beacon to restore Urohringr—"
"Just... j-just hold on!" Rainbow Dash shouted. She gulped. "We've never had a chance to chat like this before—"
"There is little time. The skies darken—"
"Look... chillax!" Rainbow took a bold step forward. "I... I haven't a clue what's going on. Not really, okay! But... but I-I get the feeling that... that we're on the same side, so..." She cleared her throat. "Let's just take it slowly from the top... okay?"
The figure stared at her. Its angular head tilted to the side. "We do not understand it."
"Yeah, I get that, and... mrmmmff..." Rainbow Dash rubbed her forehead. She swallowed and said, "Let's start with something easy. Uhhhh..." A pause. "...who are you, exactly?"
"Ilrifa."
Rainbow's head jerked back. She blinked.
The shape stared back. Quiet. Emotionless.
Rainbow's lips parted. "You don't say," her voice cracked.
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Welp, that's probably the name of our next book, folks.
- Prism
7520802
And maybe the one after that
Did we just get a double story name drop? Ofolrodi and Ilrifa?
And what's with this mysterious figure, hmm? Is it something related to Whitemane again? She's come up a lot, I wouldn't be surprised if it came back to her again... or if Whitemane is secretly something more than she seemed to be way back in the first book.
Hoboy, well that's ominous. Ilrifa roughly translates to evil or ugly tear/rip.
Still not 100% sure about ofolrodi. Ofol definitely means dark but I can't quite pin down what rodi is. The cosest I could find was reidi meaning either wrath or harness.
Only wings are mentioned... Is that Commander Hurricane? Maybe??
7520831
7520815
Pretty sure it's one of those Prismatic Pegasus Precursors. You know, the ones from before the Sundering.
7520822
Have you tried searching for "Odi"? Because I'm pretty sure dark is "Ofõlr" instead of "Ofol". Odi might mean "Hatred", so it would end up being "dark hatred", which makes sense I guess.
7520850
How could RD be so familar to her voice though?
Well, at least this entity will respond to question. Now if it could only clear things up without any vagueness. Like why this entire one-pony reboot system exists in the first place. Somehow I suspect that this conversation will leave more questions than answers.
On the bright side, nothing has exploded yet.
Heh...double name drop. So...the next must be "Ofolrodi". What exactly is an "Ofolrodi", though? Moreover, we still don't know what the heck "Utaan" is, yet.
I strongly suspect we'll be finding out next chapter, though.
Whoa...triple name drop?
So "Ilrifa"...I'm assuming that this is that voice that Rainbow Dash has been hearing pretty much since the beginning, with all that "foal yesderday" and whatcrap, extrapolating on this bit here:
The remaining question is what is "Ilrifa" exactly? Is it another concept made manifest? A specific being?
Endurance Reborn brought it to Foal Yesterday. Now it must be Beyond to surpass the... Dark Hatred? Is that what she's saying? So is the Dark Hatred meant to be the Dark Side? Does she need to go beyond her hate for Discord...? Or something entirely different... The Trinary War? The Midnight Armory itself? Hmm...
This Ilrifa's description sounds vaguely like a Draconequus to me. Lots of long, narrowness going around, and a shady name. Of course, Rainbow can't get a real look at it.
... hmmmm...
Total speculation here, and I'm not sure if it's been discussed in the comments... Here, Utaan seems to refer to the united Elements of Harmony, and if that is the case, Ofolrodi would be the Edge.
I'd bet that the brightest beacon is the Midnight Armory, since we know Urohingr is the whole ring world.
When typed into google translate, I get "Grub" from Icelandic. However, the return was also misspelled and wasn't pronounced properly. So what this means I have no idea.
Although, I'd hazard a guess that who ever "Ilrifa" is, OR WHAT, she isn't a pony. Her head sounds like it's that of an actual horse, but her tail sounds like the stereotypical devil tail. I like to think myself as well versed in mythology, but I do not recall a winged horse with a devil's tail anywhere. However, I am not well versed in Native American, Indian, or Asian if whatever Ilrifa is based on is a mythological creature.
7520856
...
What if it's Rainbow's Chaotic self? Her "draconqus form" if you will.
Doubling my workload are you ):( ?
Hmm...well I can't work with Ilrifa yet, don't have any idea what the story to that is gonna be like...
But...
Through the path long forgotten, into the darkness long begotten. Ofolrodi.
Hmm.. that works.
I still maintain the voice of the macrocosm is Endrax.
-Companions are abound, frozen spectres hound. Utaan.
7520853 Yeah you're right about ofolr, I somehow managed to butcher that one between changing tabs on my phone
.I still couldn't find anything for odi though, I'm getting the feeling that it's something that Skirts took a little creative liberty with.
7520893
Perhaps the tail represents more of a classical unicorn's tail?
7520910
Damn you're right...
It's also worth pointing out, that so far, Utaan is the only book whose name is only one word when translated, every other book is two words.
7520901 I like how if you put the translated titles to this phase in a row you get "Within purpose, beyond dark hatred."
Hmm. I wonder if we'll be restarting at 250 this time. Keeping it nice and round.
7520921 The East Horse, her Endurance Reborn, Accomplishes the Wind?
The Frantic Companionship of the Ring of Fate Foals Yesterday?
7520856 It's the same voice she's heard in all her earlier visions. Remains the question of just who that is. She speaks of herself in plural form. There's several interpretations I can come up with, assuming Rainbow doesn't just drop the bomb in the next chapter - I mean, she does seem to recognize the name. My initial favourite theory of the voices belonging to the Elements of Harmony is still possible, if more unlikely. That it could be the Draconequui is possible but would warp the entire framework of the story into something much darker. The two options I consider the most promising is it either being the remnants of proto pegasi - thus explaining the strange form and wings, perhaps a construct even, an armoured entity or a magical echo - or the remnants of the souls trapped in the plane itself. The latter would be my personal favourite. It would give the trapped souls relevancy, would explain why they want the flames rekindled - to buy themselves freedom by making their presence obsolte - and why that process gradually grants them more power and perception. Plus, it would combine the presence of deceased characters with the old alicorns and pegasi, so that'd be pretty cool!
So many name drops and speculations here. A lot of people have already gotten to the translations so I will defer to them as I don't have the time this morning to figure it out. Its good to finally have a name to the voice Rainbow has been hearing though hopefully they will have time to actually talk and figure some things out before she has to move on.
Ooo so curious... All the new names and a shadow friend as well.
7520822
Now where else in this series is there a reference to an 'ugly rip'...
Looks like we may have found our culprit/s.
7520970
Holy Luna poop...
The fact that a sentence like this makes perfect fucking sense just makes me think that the entire purpose of this story is to completely destroy my sanity.
I fucking swear, the last book will just be composed entirely of these words and every single person that's gotten this far will be able to follow it perfectly.
Seems like Dash encountered a Rhamphorhynchus.
images.dinosaurpictures.org/rhamphorhynchus_by_ariel_orea-d54w27n_efb6.jpg
7521242
Damn, two book title drops in one chapter, now that is new.
Well... that was a surprise...
>inb4 next story title is Ofolrodi
7520899
...now that's a possibility
Let's see, Old Norse reference time. Choosing to study Scandinavian history last semester finally worked out. WHO'S DOING THE SILLY MODULE YOU'LL NEVER USE NOW?!
Now this one started easy for me. The first part is "dark" if you kicked off all the diacritics from it. Odi on the other hand made me cry a little. Taking the ð as its soft d rather than its th phenome, you can get óðr, which is the closest I've found and means something along the lines of "being frenzied" or berserk, enraged, etc. Alternatively, I get "point" or "apex" from spellings using a d.
Now this one is REALLY interesting if looked at one specific way. Couldn't dig up anything at first, then I hit upon a stroke of luck. Phonetically I sliced the end and the start phonemes off and looked for similar sounding words. Turns out kicking the first phoneme off gives a word that's REALLY close to a norse word meaning remains, scraps, leftovers, residue etc depending on sentence context.
There's also 7520822 's translation too which is pretty spot on and the possibility I'm looking waaaay too into a name. First step is to change the spelling of it to illrrifa, not a huge issue seeing as how previous norse titling has been butchered to throw us off.
Illr is the norse root for... ill (big surprise to nobody). However it's ill as in 'an ill wind' not as in unwell.
Rifa is the loan word "rift" is rooted from, see rip, tear, wound.
So this name either means "Remains", or "Ill Wound" ( or synonymous meanings)
There's still the question of what rainbow will get from this flame. I know a lot of people think she'll get discord, but all the other flames have restored one of her friends. I'm guissing this one will follow the same pattern, and either restore something of Dash's, possibly even ascension (though thats highly unlikely, imo), or cause her friends to become corporeal.
Allright. So. This is a highly expositive chapter, which means a lot to discuss and theorize about. I'm going to focus on the entity introduced here.
First of all, this being seems to be sustained by the beacons in some way. This is also reinforced by the fact that she seems to have been negatively impacted by Verlax's tampering with the beacons.
She also has a voice familiar to Rainbow Dash. Personally, I favor RoboRed's extrapolation (7520883) that she's the voice RD's been hearing since Yaerfaerda, though there are other possibilities.
But there are a few things that, at least at the time of me writing this portion of this comment (it takes a couple of minutes absolute minimum for me to write a post this long), no one's picked up yet.
For one thing, the setting is very important to trying to understand "Ilrifa", as she calls herself. Where they're meeting, it's initially pitch-black flooring, only resolving into the plane and surrounding void once RD uses her pendant to look around. In other words, when the light of harmony shone on it.
Second, they're on the plain, giant-sized, so they're both larger than life - literally.
But the thing is, while RD and everything else is visible, Ilrifa is only visible by blocking the light behind herself. This is highly suggestive, especially when you connect it with the fact that she seems to have a fondness for meeting amidst the cosmos.
The clincher from my perspective, however, is the meaning of her name.
Thanks to jeryn11 (7520822), I didn't have to go hunt it down. Roughly translated, it means 'evil/ugly tear/rip'.
That sounds like Onyx Elipses. Which in this continuity are irregular 'holes' to the 'outside' of the universe. Anything that comes through them is utter nonsense.
But we never got a permanent guarantee that it would be that way forever. Implied, yes, but as with Disney, so with IC. Nothing is free from his plotting.
So, my theory is this: Ilrifa is from the void.
Not originally from there, however.
Confused? You should be.
To explain my suspicions, let's first look at the cumulative description of Ilrifa. She's got narrow feathers, an angular neck, a longer head than a normal pony, is described as 'equine', and the tail is long, narrow, and flared out at the end. Considering that she's nonreflective black, it seems that we can't have ever met her face-to-face before, because we would have remembered it.
But, assuming Robo Red's correct about the voice, we probably have met Ilrifa face-to-face once before. Specifically, at the first beacon.
Whitemane. The fact that 'Whitemane' self-admitted that she was using RD's memories of Whitemane in order to communicate with RD, linked with the fact that Ilrifa says she can only hear and smell right now, makes me think that Ilrifa was using 'Whitemane' to converse with RD. Considering that Twilight's beacon was the only one Verlax didn't tamper with, that sounds pretty plausible.
And it makes more sense for Harmony to revive something that originated in the universe that was later cast out than for Harmony to start creating something from nothing. Chaos creates stuff from (near-)nothing; Harmony has not behaved like that.
So, who was Ilrifa? That's a different question entirely. I lean towards pegasus/alicorn, but I could be wrong. In fact, IC may have planned something entirely different for Ilrifa's origin/backstory than what I've outlined here.
So, since I know I may be completely off, and since it's taken over 40 minutes to write this theory, I'll call it a comment. If you see any holes in this theory, and/or any evidence that may contradict, or, conversely, support, this theory, please reply. Feedback - especially constructive criticism - is appreciated.
Eight hours later and I'm still scrutinizing Ofolrodi. Most of the stuff I can come up with just doesn't seem to fit quite right. Something along the lines of "Dark Hatred" seems too edgy to be something Skirts would write, not to mention the fact that it's a redundant phrase.
7521450
What alternate spelling did you use to come up with point or apex? "Dark apex" would fit perfectly given where the story is currently headed.
7521541
"Dark Hatred" might be referring to Trinary War.
7521541 Nothing directly from Norse, but Oddr is 'Point' in Norse, which led me to investigate modernised languages, which gave me "Oddi" in Icelandic.
Figured that would work following Skirts' propensity for not directly translating words into titles.
7521334 .... I'm going to act under the assumption that's a serious query.
since he was first introduced in the tavern in Rust, trying to capture Echo for the syndicate.
chapter 90 of Ynanhluutr: And then there's these motherbuckers.
The very first paragraph of which is:
Wow, that's a lot of information for such a short chapter. I'm guessing, as others have, that we just got the names of the next two books. Other people have done a pretty good job piecing together the etymologies, so I won't bother.
Though I will say the character of Ilrifa intrigues me. I'd always wondered about the strange voice that Rainbow heard, so it's exciting to see at least a little explanation. Of course, what she is, exactly, remains to be seen. Possibly an alicorn, but I'm inclined to think it's something deeper and older than that. Perhaps something to do with the original builders of Urohringr. Is she some kind of artificial intelligence inside the machine? Something more traditionally mystical? Very curious to see what becomes of this.
[2016-02-17 7:06:55 PM] fourths: 9th book title guess: Ofolrsyn
[2016-04-07 11:17:48 PM] fourths: i think i said this before but my guess for the next book is Ofolrsyn, Ofolrhlid, or Ofolrhond
[2016-04-07 11:17:55 PM] fourths: which would mean 'dark side'
[2016-04-07 11:18:01 PM] fourths: though that could be totally wrong :P
[2016-04-07 11:19:04 PM] Relevant Heavy Metal: in what crazyass language
[2016-04-07 11:19:31 PM] fourths: same as most so far
[2016-04-07 11:19:32 PM] fourths: old norse
Soooo... Got half of it likely before you even did. Still, dunno about that second half :P
7521242 I'm okay with this theory.
7521450
If we go with this translation, maybe this is a proto-pegasus who tried to reignite the flame before commander hurricane even. It would be surprising if Hurricane and Dash were the only Austraeohs.
7521700 I kinda wish ):( would re-drop this information every few hundred thousand words. I forgot he was blue and I don't think his cutie mark has been mentioned since.
7521541
I don't know, he's mentioned several times that this next book is going to be the darkest one yet and probably have the gore tag.
Classical Unicorns, for those who are curious, though the results have been overrun by MLP:FiM :P
7521685 Ah ok, thanks. I think right now my best guess after giving it another thorough look would have to be that it's a mash-up of ofolr and froedi which would roughly equate to "dark history/lore". Beyond that I have no idea.
7521562 Possibly, I really have no clue beyond an educated guess anymore. The wording just seemed a little odd to me. Since all forms of hatred are dark to some degree, the adjective kinda becomes redundant. It would be like saying: the empty blank sheet of paper, the broken down Ford, or that terrible commenter jeryn11
. All of these things are already implied by the noun so the adjective becomes superfluous.
Who knows? Maybe IC is just screwing with us all and the actual title is a combination of ofolr and hrodi, meaning: "dark snot".
Why does everybody say that Verlax didn't tamper with the first beacon? Didn't she pretty much say she was responsible for the Blight? The thing that sucked all magic and eventually some properties of physics out of the Grand Choke? I call that tampering, even if there wasn't chaos metal involved.
Well, this has been an exciting chapter with some actual information coming out of this whole cosmos sequence. Of course, that information is still clouded in mystery but it's better than what RD usually gets.
7520899
I really like this idea as it would lead to more interaction between the two and that her other self isn't just a mindless beast. It could very well be the setup for some deep character development on both parts for the next book, if true. However, it seems to me that Ilrifa would be someone/thing else as 'she' appears to have knowledge above and beyond what her other self could.
7520856 The visions she had before often had a voice speaking to her.
7520870 It was discussed earlier that the ring world must have some form of intelligence to be able to alter harmonic magic to suit its needs in restoring the world.
7521497
Maybe she's a draconis? There was always that junk about a female discord.